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California Badminton Academy exclusive preview

I went to visit California Badminton Academy earlier today and had a nice long chat with the owner. Here I give you guys the exclusive look at this brand new badminton club in Fremont.

badminton clubs are popping up left and right here in the bay area, just this half year alone, we are getting 2 brand new gyms with an additional 47 courts and there are new ones rumored to be in the works. CBA is the latest addition that is planned to be opened at the end of May.

before i go into any details about the club, i want to mention a few words about the owner, Rose Lei. Rose was a former Chinese national player back in the 70s. the 70s was a time before China was able to join the world badminton federation and thus were shut out of tournaments like Thomas Cup and All England. the skill level of the Chinese players, however, is a head above other countries. the fame tour that was taken by the Chinese for friendly matches in Europe where they end up with complete victory is a proof to that. Rose was part of the Chinese team in that tour, along with guess who, Hou Jia Chiang and Tang Xinfu.

even though that was a time even before i was born, i can tell from talking to her that badminton still flows in Rose' blood. she talks about badminton with a passion, which is not different than any of us here in BC. she talks how she thinks and dreams badminton day and night, she is passionate about teaching youngster, she talks skills and she talks strategy. she knows a lot about the Chinese teams back in those earlier days. and she mentions how she is still in contact with a lot of the players. we had a long 2 hours chat and i really learned a lot from her.

her passion with badminton fuels the way she is setting up the club. the club motto of "Strong Mind, Strong Body, Strong Skill, Strong Community" captures her vision of how the club is run. her systematic and unique training methodology not only encompass skills, but also systematically build mental strength. as a top level player herself, she understands that skills alone do not win a game, badminton is a chess game that takes both skill, tactics and strategy to win.

CBA offers 18 badminton courts in a spacious 35,000 sqft converted warehouse in Fremont. the club is conveniently location just off I-880 and Mission Blvd. the choice of the location is excellent as it is almost visible and very accessible from the highway. there are a few strip mall right across from the club.

the warehouse itself offers a ceiling height of 30+ ft, which conforms to competition standard. the lighting is T5 fluorescent located above the court boundaries. the T5 lighting is excellent. in fact, taking the crown from Bintang Campbell, i believe CBA now has the best and brightest badminton club lighting that i have ever seen. as a badminton photographer i am especially excited about that.

all 18 courts will be covered with tournament badminton court mats. the total padding will be a full 10mm thick which should be adequate to dampen shock from continuous badminton activities.

coaching will be a major part of CBA. being a coach and passionate about coaching herself, Rose will have a team of 4 badminton coaches. she has designed a unique systematic and complete badminton training program for students of all levels.

with her connections in China, she is able to bring in international coaches to do clinics. i am personally very excited to hear that Xiong Guo Bao will be coming in July. Xiong is my idol who has the most amazing backhand, ever.

aside from badminton, CBA will also offer 10 tournament grade table tennis tables. she will be hiring a couple of national and provicial level table tennis coaches.

other amenities includes sitting areas, a meeting/activity room, a proshop and fitness equipment.

after my visit, i was quite impressed with what i saw in CBA and its potentials. a lot of work still needs to be done and Rose will have a very hectic schedule to meet the late May grand opening schedule. i look forward to seeing the final product!

cool, cool..

...
all 18 courts will be covered with tournament badminton court mats. the total padding will be a full 10mm thick which should be adequate to dampen shock from continuous badminton activities.

coaching will be a major part of CBA. being a coach and passionate about coaching herself, Rose will have a team of 4 badminton coaches. she has designed a unique systematic and complete badminton training program for students of all levels.
...

- What kind of padding, material wise, will it be?
- Is that white looking object on the floor the padding itself?
- Is Rose the 1st ever ex-Chinese national player to open/manage a baddy club in NorCal?

Yes, the Gym is a really nice facility. I am looking forward to seeing it open soon.

On the note that US young atheltes are no match against the other countries. I was at the BWF World Junior Championships 2010 last couple of days and saw China won this year WJC. It is mostly true when US face Asian and top Europe coutries. However, there are some games which are close and the US team had a good chance winning a game or two, but overall US young atheletes have to train more. The difficulty is we do not have big sponsors like other countries. In other countries, they have sports school, so the atheletes study in the morning and train int he afternoon. Our kids have to work really hard at school and practice using whatever time is left.

California is getting so many Badminton venues so quickly

I went to visit California Badminton Academy earlier today and had a nice long chat with the owner. Here I give you guys the exclusive look at this brand new badminton club in Fremont.

badminton clubs are popping up left and right here in the bay area, just this half year alone, we are getting 2 brand new gyms with an additional 47 courts and there are new ones rumored to be in the works. CBA is the latest addition that is planned to be opened at the end of May.

...... the club motto of "Strong Mind, Strong Body, Strong Skill, Strong Community" captures her vision of how the club is run.

......the warehouse itself offers a ceiling height of 30+ ft, which conforms to competition standard. the lighting is T5 fluorescent located above the court boundaries. the T5 lighting is excellent. in fact, taking the crown from Bintang Campbell, i believe CBA now has the best and brightest badminton club lighting that i have ever seen. as a badminton photographer i am especially excited about that.

all 18 courts will be covered with tournament badminton court mats. the total padding will be a full 10mm thick which should be adequate to dampen shock from continuous badminton activities.

coaching will be a major part of CBA. being a coach and passionate about coaching herself, Rose will have a team of 4 badminton coaches. she has designed a unique systematic and complete badminton training program for students of all levels.

after my visit, i was quite impressed with what i saw in CBA and its potentials. a lot of work still needs to be done and Rose will have a very hectic schedule to meet the late May grand opening schedule. i look forward to seeing the final product!

.
Thanks for the news, kwun. I envy how Californians are getting so many Badminton venues so quickly. I only wish that it is happening here in Australia.

We have associations here planning to build Badminton venues too. We have started raising funds. But our fund raising is often running hot-and-cold.

Having proper facilities, proper coaches and proper programs is the way the promote Badminton to new players. It looks like we could be finding more players coming from California to represent USA in the near future.
.

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Thanks for the news, kwun. I envy how Californians are getting so many Badminton venues so quickly. I only wish that it is happening here in Australia.

We have associations here planning to build Badminton venues too. We have started raising funds. But our fund raising is often running hot-and-cold.

Having proper facilities, proper coaches and proper programs is the way the promote Badminton to new players. It looks like we could be finding more players coming from California to represent USA in the near future.
.

When I was in Sydney, its association has a building plan drawn out, but not enough money to start the project.

Now that I am in Melbourne, I found out the same thing at a meeting just last Sunday. We have raised $300,000; it's hardly enough to build a little hut. .

Sorry if I am stating the obvious here. All of clubs here are converted from old warehouses and on lease. So, the club owners do not actually build the building, thus lower the start-up cost. With the membership fee, entrance fee, pro-shop, lessons, etc., the clubs owners are able to turn a profit (otherwise, there wouldn't be that many clubs).

With $300k, plus enough members, plus some fine coaches, I guess you should be able to pull it off.

We think of a venue that we can call our own home ground

Originally Posted by jamesd20

How much is required is your opinion?

Originally Posted by Fan888

Sorry if I am stating the obvious here. All of clubs here are converted from old warehouses and on lease. So, the club owners do not actually build the building, thus lower the start-up cost. With the membership fee, entrance fee, pro-shop, lessons, etc., the clubs owners are able to turn a profit (otherwise, there wouldn't be that many clubs).

With $300k, plus enough members, plus some fine coaches, I guess you should be able to pull it off.

.
To be honest, we don't think of profit.

We think of a venue that we can call our own home ground.

The owners of the venue will be all our association members. It is not a business plan. It is only a community project.

It is like building a house for us to live in; not like building a house for business.
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